Shift scheduling for travel and tourism companies

Airport shifts around flight banks

Arrivals and departures cluster in banks: early morning international arrivals, a midday domestic peak and late-night departures. Build airport shifts around these rather than around office hours. Start from the default Morning, Evening and Night shifts and edit their timings to fit the flights your guests actually take, rostering more people on the busier banks.

• Early: 4 am to 12 pm for dawn arrivals
• Day: 12 pm to 8 pm for domestic peaks
• Night: 8 pm to 4 am for late departures, with the night shift flag
• Staggered weekly offs, with every shift kept at its minimum headcount

The operations emergency line

Groups on tour need someone to answer at 2 am when a flight is cancelled or a guest falls ill. Many companies run the emergency line through a rota of operations executives who each take a planned night duty, or through a night desk in peak season. Put these duties on the roster as shifts, so they are visible, counted for overtime or comp-off, and shared fairly across the operations team instead of always falling on the most willing person.

Branch and sales rosters

Branches open on Saturdays and often on Sundays in peak season, so branch staff need staggered weekly offs on weekdays. In a branch of four consultants, a rotation template can give each person a different weekday off and one full weekend off a month. In peak season, add a second evening shift for call-backs rather than asking the same people to stay late every day.

Night shifts, rest and swaps

Night shifts at the airport and on the emergency line should rotate weekly or fortnightly, with at least a full rest day before switching back to days. Women employees can be rostered at night with their consent and under the government's safety conditions, and the company should arrange transport for early and late airport shifts. Staff can trade shifts with a colleague in the app; a swap goes live once the colleague accepts and both the manager and HR approve it.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. In Shifts & Roster, retime the ready Morning, Evening and Night shifts to your airport flight banks, and put the night shift flag on the late one.
2. Create an emergency line shift for operations executives, and assign it by rotation so night duty is shared.
3. Give branch staff staggered personal weekly offs, using a rotation template for a fair weekend off each month.
4. Assign airport and operations rosters in bulk for the season, up to 92 days at a time.
5. Let colleagues trade shifts in the app; each trade needs the colleague's acceptance plus manager and HR approval.
6. Check the day grid before each long weekend to confirm every airport desk and branch has its minimum team.

Read more about shifts and rosters in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions